The vehicle testing station at the Vienna Arsenal

A rail vehicle testing station for climatic tests has been in operation on the premises of the former Arsenal since 1961. It originated from a joint project involving the Office for Research and Experiments (ORE, Utrecht), the International Railway Union (UIC, Paris) and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Trade and Reconstruction. The Austrian Government contributed the necessary construction site, which offered the unique opportunity to combine the new vehicle testing station with the existing Test and Research Institute for Heating and Refrigeration Technology and Fluid Mechanics based at the Vienna Arsenal. Numerous European railway authorities and the Federal Government were willing to finance the facility on a joint basis.

Construction work on the new vehicle testing station, consisting of one static and one dynamic chamber, began on 18 September 1958. The new facility was put in operation with all due ceremony on 22 June 1961.

In its original configuration, each of the two chambers was designed to produce temperatures from – 40° to + 50°C, the dynamic chamber additionally generating wind speeds of up to 120 km/h at - 15°C. After several upgrades and an extensive redesign in the years 1973/74, the temperature range extended from - 50°C to + 50°C, and the air speed simulating the travelling speed of the vehicle was increased to 250 km/h.